19 - In Conversation with Yassir Morsi: Slow Ontology as Resistance

Summary

Dr Yassir Morsi is a lecturer in social inquiry and a provisional psychologist at an Islamic academy in Australia and author of the auto- ethnography Radical Skin, Moderate Masks, on Islamophobia and racism in Australia.

DB: Yassir, what is your understanding of racial literacy as a concept?

YM: Many of us use the term ‘racial literacy’. I have heard it in the context of anti- racism used by people trying to build both a coalition and a mobility and culture of activism against racism, to speak about one of the obstacles that we face. It refers to the level of knowledge, understanding of the history of how racism works, evolves, how it plays out in various arenas, at the state level. Importantly, here in a white settlement, it's about how race shaped and still shapes the lives of Indigenous folk, immigrants, people of colour, and of course, white people. So I see it as a term that we use to measure how well we, in a public debate, understand racism, the way it works and its foundations.

DB: So, Yassir, what academic disciplines or fields do you teach in?

YM: I initially began in politics. I stayed there for a little while. My PhD was in politics. I expanded to the field within Islamic studies that focuses on politics with respect to Islamophobia and anti- Muslim racism. And then, without my permission, the next thing I knew I was a race scholar. And I say ‘without my permission’ because of both the institution and environment of the day; publicly and otherwise, I was continually called upon as a Muslim scholar – but not paid for it – to deal with the harms of racism and the impact to my community, and others. So I slowly found myself getting involved in cultural studies in the broad sense and ended up in a gender and sexuality role and in the diversity department of a university. I have come to be known for my expertise in racism and coloniality. But, as I mentioned, I did not really make that choice.